Riot Games has announced the NRG bundle, which is fresh and a set of skins, that the VALORANT in-game shop has just opened up. The community is responding, some with very strong opinions, while the official VALORANT account took to Twitter with a relatively indifferent message stating, “now available in your shop by the way,” and posting a photo of the new skins, but the gamers’ feedback was all over the place – the reaction ranged from happiness to astonishment about the team bundle for this year.
What is actually in the NRG Bundle? The answer is the NRG team bundle, complete with gun buddies, player cards, and all the good stuff that symbolizes the organization. NRG looks to be very excited about it, replying with “THANK YOU 🧡🧡🧡” and showing their presence through various accounts connected to NRG. However, the players are the ones that feel the duality of this situation, as they have pointed out a flaw in these team bundles that they do not like.
A gamer by the name of TastyTraps even went so far as to directly question Riot: “Serious question, no sarcasm. Can we expect uniqueness in team banners like last years bundles for the 2026 bundles? (Instead of the same concept with the only difference being team logo/colors)” And honestly? That question gets to the heart of the matter that a lot of players are raising in their replies.
The whole debate seems to arise from the fact that last year’s team bundles had each organization represented with exclusive design while this year’s are simply a copy of the same design with different colors and logos. JamesZerf openly stated: “Bring back the old player cards. Guaranteed more ppl would buy” which… yes, it makes perfect sense, right? If everything looks alike, then players will buy less, and it will just be a matter of time until the bundles go on sale.
But before you panic, let me tell you that this whole situation has some interesting business rationale behind it. A reply thread between d0movlr and dnnyskii actually gave a sneak peek of the reasoning behind Riot’s change of structure. d0movlr said, “they made them similar because bad selling teams were complaining that they are bad selling. lol, lmao even” which… okay, that’s actually quite humorous but at the same time makes corporate sense? For instance, if a certain team was not selling well due to their design being unpopular, then putting all teams under one big theme would make it easier to sell even the costumes that are less popular with fans.
But dnnyskii came up with a strong reasoning: “it gives lesser-known teams the chance to make a really creative and good-looking card and thus getting more sales. they should bring it back” Which honestly seems like the better way to go? Grant every team their own uniqueness instead of this cookie-cutter approach we are witnessing right now.
Meanwhile, some players are just perplexed about the timing. mopostor asked “why so late?” which is quite a reasonable question – the bundle seems to drop way after NRG’s championship win. In fact, Maya from NRG had to explain in another reply that “This came in 2025 after they won in 2024. NRG’s 2026 bundle should probably have a reference” so at least the timeline is cleared up.
Moreover, there are some typical gamer complaints as well like DFreniek asking about discounts (not gonna happen), tiltttv_ moaning about the ranking system instead of new cosmetics (puhhhh, priorities man), and aavahime just wishing that someone would buy it for them (same feeling for sure).
The whole matter somehow highlights this conflict between players’ wants and Riots’ business point of view. On the one hand, having each team with its own unique design increases the collectible value and lets the organizations share their brand identity. On the other hand, standardized templates would probably lead to less time of development and guarantee that no team has bundles that they get to sell and are considered by the players to be least attractive and thus least sold.
However, some players are already thinking about what’s next – sveinn29 is asking about bringing back VCT 24 skins and cards, with a specific mention of needing the FNC skin. So it is already obvious that there is a demand for the older, more unique designs that used to be around.
What’s quite interesting is that this whole conversation illustrates how much the players appreciate the variety of skims in VALORANT. It is not merely a case of having shiny new things to buy – it is more about having the differences between team representations that really mirror the respective organization’s identity. When everything is the same apart from colors, it rather defeats the purpose of having team-specific bundles in the first place.
The NRG bundle seems to be very trendy based on the preview image – the orange and black colors, sophisticated patterns, etc. Still, one cannot help but understand the players who used to buy many team bundles that now might be less excited about this one if it is just another variation of the same template they already have with other teams.
At last, VALORANT players are definitely very fussy about their cosmetics and want them to feel special rather than that of a mass-produced product. The NRG bundle is in the shop now for those who want to display their loyalty to the champs, but the broader conversation about the team bundle design philosophy is absolutely one that Riot should take into account for new releases. Who knows, we might see the return of even more unique designs in 2026 – let’s hope so, at least. For those interested in PlayStation and Xbox gaming, there are other exciting updates as well.
